SBA releases new insights on business readiness for decarbonisation

Sustainable Business Australia (SBA) today released a report for C-Suite executives to assist with business in becoming more transparent with their investors about climate-related financial risks and opportunities, transitioning to a zero-carbon economy.

The report “Climate Action in 2017 – Insights into the readiness of Australian business to disclose climate-related financial risks and opportunities” is based on research by SBA using the CDP climate disclosures from the ASX200 and analysis and insights by leading environmental and energy management advisory firm, Energetics.

The report calls on business to disclose carbon liabilities; for transparency about emission reduction strategies and, for climate response strategies to be integrated into core businesses. The report provides insights into how Australian business is evaluating and disclosing their material climate risks and opportunities that are most relevant to their business activities and asks how well prepared they are to meet the increasing level of disclosure being demanded by investors and shareholders.

We have two key messages today:

Firstly, around half of Australia’s major businesses will be using an internal carbon price to help manage their business and reduce risk within two years, as momentum builds within the corporate sector to have net zero carbon emissions by mid-century.

The findings come from research conducted over the past 12 months involving 41 per cent of ASX200 listed entities. The research was conducted by Sustainable Business Australia, the country’s peak business body for sustainable development, and found approximately a third of businesses surveyed have already implemented an internal carbon price and this is forecast to grow to 50 percent in the next two years.

Further, there has been significant improvement in recent years in the number of companies setting targets for emissions reductions. Of those providing data, 85 per cent of companies globally and 60 per cent of Australian companies have already set targets to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.

Secondly, Australian business is being urged to accelerate efforts to act on climate risk and meet growing demands from investors, community, government and international business, for greater transparency, accountability and commitment from the nation’s chief executives.

The report calls on business to disclose carbon liabilities; for transparency about emission reduction strategies and, for climate response strategies to be integrated into core businesses. The report provides insights into how Australian business is evaluating and disclosing their material climate risks and opportunities that are most relevant to their business activities and asks how well prepared they are to meet the increasing level of disclosure being demanded by investors and shareholders.